1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image communicating apparatus for recording an image on a recording material in accordance with received image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, serial printers, e.g., ink jet printers, for recording image data output from host computers or the like have been known. This type of printer is connected to a host computer through a universal interface such as a Centronics interface. Image data corresponding to one main scan of a recording head is transferred from the host computer to the printer, which stores the data in its buffer and then performs recording. Each time one main scan is completed, a sheet of paper is advanced (sub-scan) by an amount corresponding to the recording width of the recording head. By repeating the main scan and the sub-scan a sufficient times, an image of one page is recorded.
Recently, a facsimile equipment using the aforementioned serial printer as a recording unit has been proposed. In this type facsimile equipment, as with the above combination of a host computer and a printer, a facsimile section for controlling transmission/reception of image data is connected to a printer section through a universal interface such as a Centronics interface for transferring the received image data to the printer section.
In facsimile equipment, image data is usually handled on a line-by-line basis. To record the received image data by a serial printer, therefore, the received image data must be transported (horizontal/vertical conversion) into data in accordance with an array of recording elements of a recording head mounted on the printer.
When the received image data has a resolution different from that used in recording by the printer, it is also required to convert the resolution of the image data.
If both horizontal/vertical conversion and resolution conversion are carried out in the facsimile section, the load of a CPU in the facsimile section will be so increased as to cause an overload state when transmitting or receiving another image while data is being transferred to the printer section.
Also, the transfer of data from the facsimile section to the printer section takes substantial time because the data is transferred as live data for all lines through a Centronics interface.